Write a poem - Syllabic verse
Students should write a poem and turn it in towards the end of the semester.
It should be contain the following:
Four stanzas
Seven syllables per line
Four lines in each stanza
Syllabic verse is a poetic form having a fixed number of syllables per line or stanza regardless of the number of stresses that are present. The following poem exemplifies a syllabic verse, in that it has seven syllables in each line, without a consistent stress pattern.
In My Craft Or Sullen Art
In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art
Dylan Thomas
